One-Shot 4: Flying

Rosalie Carolina Stoll sat on the grass watching her siblings soar through the sky with their father. She longed to fly with them and touch the sky but her mommy and daddy told her that she was too little to fly.

So she was stuck to the ground staring enviously at her siblings.

Ever since a small memory of somebody singing (a/n: Oh my god memories of being a few days old. Not realistic but oh well, just pretend it's normal :P) softly into her ear and staring blankly into the black and white stars she was fascinated with the sky ever since.

The sky often confused her as it changed colors throughout the day. At first she was confused by that. But when she questioned why the sky changed her mother explained that in order for night and day to happen the sky has to change. "And that's when the stars come out to say hello to you," Katie Gardner said with a soft smile.

Rosie pointed to herself. "To me?" she asked. Katie smiled as she looked out the window of her youngest daughter's room. After a while she nodded as she looked at Rosalie staring out the window with her big eyes. She moved the hair covering the small child's forehead and planted a soft kiss on the forehead.

"Yes darling, always for you," she replied softly as Rose yawned and started blinking rapidly as the sleep caught up with her. Once Rose closed her eyes Katie Stoll stood up and left with a small smile on her face.

So now Rosalie Stoll sat there one the soft grass staring for days on end. And one of those days she came up with an idea. It was a smart idea, well a smart idea in her five year old judgment skills.

When Hailey and Jacob weren't outside she went to the side of the house, her faithful kitten cat thing (little did she know it was a Chimera…) followed her by her bare feet. Now, you might be wondering why a little girl like her would be walking around barefooted.

Rose would have just laughed at you. "The grass is soft," she'd reply in a dreamy state that would no longer be with her anymore after her 12 years of age. "The soil feels great between your toes," she'd look at you with her green and blue eyes and smile. "You'll just have to try it out sometime,"

She made the ivy make a stairway for her as she watched the plants slowly curl up the bricks. The plants stopped growing and so like a princess, she picked up part of the skirt of her white sundress and proceeded to climb up the wall to the roof.

She almost slipped a couple of times but whenever she did the vines would wrap around her wrists or ankles to hold her in place until she was stable.

Once she found herself on the roof she stood and stared for a while to marvel at the sky. She was so close to it. She reached out her hand to try to touch it but all she felt was the warm breeze brushing against her small fingers. She closed her eyes for a moment and let the breeze rush through her long thin blonde hair. She could smell the smell of diner being cooked and it made her tummy rumble.

But she ignored her hunger and focused on what her mission was. As she stood by the edge she thought about what she had to say in order to fly. She heard them say it a million of times, then why couldn't she remember it?

She thought long and hard as she sat on the edge of the roof with her tiny feet hanging off the edge. Then the word came to her head and she almost said it out loud but she didn't want to fly right then and there so she covered her mouth so she wouldn't be caught off surprise to find herself floating in mid-air.

So she stood up and took a deep breath. She shut her eyes as the word that would give her the privilege to touch the sky and say hello to the stars ran through her head a million times before she ran off and jumped muttering that damn word.

"Maia."

Katie Stoll was busy mixing something in a pot as she talked to her husband. Her eyes wandered for a while as she was talking.

"So anyway Miranda—OH MY GODS, TRAVIS!" her eyes opened wide in shock as she pointed out the window.

Travis spun around and saw their daughter plummeting to the ground with her arms spread wide as if she was a bird.

He swung the door open and ran outside in record speed with his arms out ready to catch her.

Rosalie Stoll opened her eyes. Things were in slow-motion and she didn't know why. Was this how flying was like? It wasn't at all on what she imagined. First of all, she was falling. 'I don't think you can call that flying' she thought.

She saw a tall man in all black stand in the background—well at least she thought he was in black, she couldn't really tell due to her one eye colorblindness. He looked scary. She hoped that he wouldn't ever meet her. His skull ring pointed at her and he was muttering things that she couldn't hear.

In fact, she could hear nothing. But slowly sounds came rushing to her like marathoners running to the finish line. She thought she would be met by the sounds of birds chirping and wind chimes flowing in the wind. But instead she heard screaming. She wasn't the one screaming. It sounded a lot like her mother. She blinked for a while but realized it was her mother.

She looked at the ground. There was grass so even if she did fall she would be fine, right? She could just control it to wrap it around her and cradle her, right? But as she waved her arms she realized that she couldn't, it wasn't easy like the ivy.

That was when she started panicking. This time speed caught up with her and she was plummeting to the ground. But for some reason… she wasn't scared. She didn't scream and all the panic escaped her. She was almost near the ground until…

A pair of arms caught her. Strong sturdy arms that were so familiar. The same warm arms that held her when she wanted to see things from a higher perspective even in the times when she could fly but chose not to.

She looked up. "Daddy?" A look of relief flashed through the man's face as he brought her in an embrace. She was soon met by another embrace. She looked through the tangle of arms and saw her mommy. Her head was buried in daddy's chest. Rose felt the chest of her mother shaking.

Past the tangle of arms she saw her siblings peering through the window of their kitchen to see what was going on. Jacob was staring at Rose with an ounce of anger and Hailey was just confused.

She looked for the man in black. But where ever she looked, he was nowhere to be found. But soon she was whisked away inside and sat down.

"What in the world were you thinking?" her mother questioned. "You could've died Rose!"

"But mom—"

"And jumping off the roof!" her mom exclaimed. "What in the name of Zeus made you think of that?" Rosie opened her mouth to talk but her mom kept interrupting her.

"Katie!" Travis yelled. "Let the girl talk!" Katie Stoll shut up and watched her daughter.

"I was trying to fly!" Rose said.

Hailey—who was hiding in the corner started laughing, "You need shoes to fly Rosie!"

Rose brightened up. "Okay! Let me get my shoes!" She hopped off the stool she was sitting on but Travis lifted her back onto the chair.

"N-no, you need shoes like this," he took off his shoes and said the word 'maia'. Rose watched in excitement as wings sprouted from the sides of the heel.

"Woah, do my shoes do that?" she asked.

Jacob spoke up, "No, you need to steal them!"

All of the people in the room with Hermes blood smiled a little bit and Katie Gardner just let out a sigh. "Well after all these years of the children of Hermes taking them I'd think that it's not stealing them anymore," she said.

"Wait, how do you steal shoes that are your size?" Rose asked.

"You just put your feet in the shoe and it forms with your shoe size so it's not like you have to steal them every time your shoe size changes," her father explains.

"Then why can't I have shoes like that?" Rosie asked again.

And like the answer they gave her until next year, it was, "Because you're too young."

The next day Rose sat on the front step of her house. She couldn't do anything ever since the day she jumped off the roof. Jacob and Hailey were too busy doing things that they did like run all over the neighborhood screaming (well Hailey screaming) that there was a giant rabbit chasing them.

Then suddenly the man in black appeared next to her. "Good, you're okay," he said.

She stared at him for a while. His skin was olive colored and it looked like he hadn't had enough sleep. His fingers were bony but she noticed a gold ring on his left ring finger. "My mommy tells me not to talk to strangers," she piped up.

He smiled a little and ruffled up her hair. "Because your mommy is smart. What does your daddy tell you?"

"He tells me to talk to strangers but then mommy hits him and then daddy just kisses her," He smiles a little bit more.

"Typical," he said under his breath.

After a while of just sitting there she asks, "Why were you at my house yesterday?"

He stands up and darkness slowly takes him to a place she doesn't know about. "I was just making sure that a little girl who wasn't supposed to die didn't die yet." And with that he was gone.

Seven years later…

She walked outside and was met by the cold wind of winter. She wasn't supposed to go outside yet but she wanted to anyway. She sat on the snow covered porch and saw the tree in which Hailey used to swing on.

Before Jacob moved out he would just stand by that tree and stare blankly at its trunk as if he was waiting for Hailey to get on that tree and fall so he would catch her. She didn't cry anymore about Hailey and her Father dying, but it still made her heart slow down and get into all sorts of knots.

Her mother wasn't the same anymore. Ever since Travis died she was depressed. It was as if Travis Stoll was her life source. The only thing keeping Katie from doing something stupid was Rose. Rosie was still a child and she needed somebody to take care of her under the laws rule.

Rose walked over to the side of the house and stared at the ivy covered wall. That was when she realized that she was the strong one out of all of the tri-bloods. She was the only one who wouldn't allow themselves to break, to absolutely shatter.

But as she leaned against the wall, she murmured, "If only if the man in black wouldn't have made sure I didn't die, then I wouldn't have to go through all of this shit."

But at that time she didn't know how hard life could be on her. Life would be harsh to that little girl who jumped off the roof thinking she could fly and talk to the stars.

Now this one was a little bit angsty but I felt throughout TNG Rose was a little bit undeveloped and she stayed that way. So I wanted to work on her character a little more here. Now yea I broke my own rules. Only part of this was happy and it went on after the GGWII. Also it kinda incorporated with the one-shot before this so I guess this is a two-shot...

And I wanted to incorporate the relationship between Rose and Katie because yet again I failed to write about that in TNG. So hello Rose. Welcome to reality.